Littlewoods Pools to get web facelift

The Littlewoods Pools will be extended online through the launch of pan-European website by Trevor Hemmings, the entrepreneur who bought the company last week for £161m.

Rodime, the quoted vehicle Hemmings used for his takeover, aims to counter the impact of the National Lottery by using the internet to bring the pools to a whole new audience.

Among the ideas put forward is a web-based pools competition involving foreign soccer leagues and even fantasy football clubs.

There is also a possibility that Hemmings may use Littlewoods Pools as a springboard to bid for the National Lottery when the franchise next comes up for renewal in 2007.

Hemmings, owner of the Blackpool Tower and half owner of Arena Leisure, secured ownership of Littlewoods Pools via a reverse takeover into Rodime - a quoted Edinburgh company that had earlier won a lengthy legal battle with Seagate Technology over disk drive options.

Meanwhile, Littlewoods' former parent, the eponymous retail leisure conglomerate, continues to press ahead with its own internet strategy unveiled in March this year.

The strategy includes a website, bet247.co.uk, and a strategic partnership with BT Cellnet which will enable customers to make live bets from anywhere in the world using the latest Wap phones.

First published on uk.internet.com

See also:

Number's up for lottery network

Camelot's multimillion pound National Lottery network will have to be scrapped to make way for Sir Richard Branson's People's Lottery, if the industry regulator gets its way.  30 Aug 2000

Football websites on the spot

The new football season is upon us and the web offers even more ways to follow your team's progress. So here's a guide to some of the best (and worst) sites around.  18 Aug 2000

The beautiful game goes online

Football is going virtual for the first time with the creation of new dotcom, Liverpool FC Broadband. But will the move make the game more commercialised than it already is, or make it more accessible to its many supporters?  28 Jul 2000

Littlewoods makes a storage saving

Retail chain Littlewoods has said it expects to save £750,000 a year after merging its data storage facilities into two 'farms'. The move eliminates the need to add servers to meet demands for increased storage.  18 Feb 2000

Littlewoods takes the faster, cheaper thin-client route

  13 Feb 1999

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